NEW DELHI: For Tejas Nandakumar, India’s national record holder in Men’s S7 100m backstroke, the last 24 hours have been a whirlwind of disbelief.The 20-year-old from Bengaluru was due to compete at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, starting on July 23, and everything had been building towards that moment. The training, the qualification times, the visa documents, even the measurements for his ceremonial kit, were all complete. When the official list of participants was released on Friday, his name was on it. Twenty-four hours later, it all came crashing down. Tejas had fully qualified for the Men’s 50m Freestyle S7, and his slot had already been accepted. But on Saturday morning, it was reported that he had been ruled ineligible, not for anything to do with his swimming, but because of his classification status.Its current designation, Review-2025, does not meet the requirement of a confirmed status or a closed review date of 2027 or later.“I am absolutely devastated. It has absolutely nothing to do with my swimming, my fitness, or my performance,” he told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive interaction. “It was strictly a technicality that ran out of time.”The classification determines how athletes are grouped according to the nature and extent of their disability, ensuring fair competition in parasport.A “Review 2025” meant that the international classifiers determined that their sport class could change and would have to be reevaluated before or during 2025. By contrast, a “Confirmed” classification indicates that the athlete’s sport class is considered stable and is not expected to change.Under Commonwealth Games eligibility rules, athletes must hold a confirmed ranking or have a review date set for 2027 or later to ensure stability. Because the Tejas overhaul was scheduled for 2025, it was deemed ineligible despite qualifying on merit.
Could this situation have been avoided?“Perhaps. But the administrative planning and documentation necessary to close this status simply did not happen in time,” he added.The rejection was especially painful because he had spent the last 18 months pursuing ranking opportunities in three countries. He competed in Barcelona, Paris and Australia, even financing a trip himself, in an attempt to secure the necessary status for Glasgow.One of those attempts was entirely at his own expense. Tejas says he personally funded his trip to Paris, hoping it would help him secure the ranking needed to be eligible for Glasgow. But he never got the ranking window he needed to have his status reassessed. When he heard that the problems approaching for the Commonwealth Games, he tried again, submitting the entry rights in March 2026 for a meeting in Fuji-Shizuoka, Japan. That attempt also fell through, as he never secured a slot and eventually withdrew.“Honestly, to say I’m absolutely gutted is an understatement,” I admitted. “You pour your life into representing your country, and to have a realistic shot at a medal taken on a technicality without even diving into the pool is a tough pill to swallow.”He believes that Indian sports bodies, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) among them, have the ability and the opportunity to close this gap before it costs another athlete a shot at a podium, especially with the Asian Paralympics and the Paralympics on the horizon.“PCI was really in my corner and tried to support me,” he told this website. “From what I understand of the process, it really came down to a matter of administrative priority; if it had been pushed more proactively, that classification window probably could have been secured. I don’t want to point fingers directly or make it controversial.”
“It is very difficult to get the ranking slot”: PCI
When asked if the governing body tried to intervene, Virender Kumar Dabas, president of Para-Swimming for the Paralympic Committee of India, told TimesofIndia.com: “No, pushing things doesn’t work here. He should have ranked himself. He had to be reclassified in 2025. He had to be more careful, and he was reminded again and again.”While acknowledging that Tejas traveled to events in Paris and Australia only to miss it due to massive backlogs, Dabas noted,
“The allocation of a classification slot is the prerogative of World Para Swimming. Especially in Europe, it is very difficult to get the classification slot… because there is so much haste, there is so much to wait for. He went to Paris, he did not get the ranking slot. Very unfortunate.”Dabas stressed that the PCI has no say in the Commonwealth Games selections and dismissed the possibility of last-minute political interventions.“We do not select the athletes. The selection comes from the top, from the international body. If there were any other document problems, which could be ratified, rectified,” he added.Dabas concluded that the result was a definitive, albeit unfortunate, reality that the athlete was warned against.“He is a good boy, but he was unfortunate. What to do? We told him before that even though his name came from the World Para Swimming through IOA, the chances are less,” he added. “He was informed about it. Because when they checked one by one, they found that he is not eligible to participate in 2026.”
“I hold my head high”: Tejas Nandakumar
To prevent similar situations in the future, Nandakumar called for a dedicated classification fund separate from the standard “Foreign Exposure” competition budgets, since the current policy typically covers only one international meeting a year, alongside a system that identifies and prioritizes medal-winning athletes for classification opportunities well in advance, along with a two- to three-year cyclists’ planning that reflects the cyclists’ planning time.“They absolutely should have prioritized the best swimmers first,” Nandakumar said. “I just hope it brings immediate attention to these administrative times so we can protect someone else from ending up in situations like this.”For now, Tejas insists that this encounter does not define him. “I’ll keep my head up. I won’t let this define me,” I concluded. “My focus immediately changes, and my eyes are completely closed on preparing and delivering for India at the upcoming Asian Para Games.”